SXSW 2025 Review:
"Drop"
Blu-Ray/DVD Release Date: June 10, 2025 Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 95 minutes A SXSW crowd-pleaser now available on Blu-Ray/DVD, Drop is a tight and taut Hitchcockian techno-thriller that exploits its simple premise to full effect. A woman is coerced via an endless series of AirDrop messages to murder her dinner date or her son and sister will be killed. Directed with precision and ingenuity by Happy Death Day’s Christopher Landon, Drop deftly uses the clock as its disconcerted protagonist tries to think her way out of an impossible situation. Looking like and carrying herself very much like a classic Hitchcock blonde in peril, The White Lotus’ Meghann Fahy stars as Violet Gates, a survivor of abuse and a dedicated mother of a young boy, Toby (Jacob Robinson). Several years after her marriage ended in violence, Violet finally summons the courage to start dating. With her sister Jen (Violett Beane) babysitting Toby, Violet sits down to enjoy a romantic evening at a swanky Chicago tower-top restaurant with the charming City Hall photographer Henry (1923’s Brandon Sklenar). Working from an economical script by Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach, Landon takes his time setting up Violet for the task at hand. Violet clearly is still processing the trauma caused by her late husband, which informs both her close relationship with Toby and the leap she takes to meet Henry. Landon works hard to make Violet feel comfortable with Henry, who is played with immense kindness and uncommon empathy by Sklenar. This is a first date that could evolve into something meaningful if Violet didn’t have to spend it trying to kill her target. Drop applies the tropes of a traditional whodunit to Violet’s endeavors to identify her blackmailers—think of this as a “who is it?”—as at least one of them is in the restaurant, based on how close they need to be to AirDrop her messages and disturbing video feeds from her house. What starts as a quiet and intimate low-pressure meet-and-greet steadily devolves into a frantic elimination of suspects and to identify possible escape routes, which obviously plays into Violet’s mindset as a survivor of abuse. The blackmailers “recruit” Violet because of her personal history, and while they exploit it for their own nefarious reasons, Drop does not, with Fahy imbuing Violet with dignity, respect, and a resourcefulness that comes from barely healed emotional and psychological wounds. Violet refuses to be a victim, even when her back is against the wall, resulting in Drop escalating the potentially deadly proceedings to untenable levels. Sklenar displays incredible patience as Henry sits and waits the countless times Violet has to leave her table to tend to business. (Jeffery Self, as their server, hilariously turns his “first day on the job” nerves and over-enthusiasm into quiet and slightly visible frustration as Violet messes around with him and Henry.) As Violet tries to think her way out of her situation, Landon uses every corner of the restaurant—from the dining area to the bar to the restroom—to disorienting effect. What should be a safe public space for Violet is transformed into a personal hellscape with the best view in Chicago. As with any Hitchcockian thriller worth watching, why Violet is forced to kill does not matter. What matters is how Violet finds a way out of her predicament. Which, to Drop’s credit, is no easy task. It’s enough to make you leave your phone at home the next time you go to a fancy dinner. Aired: June 11, 2025. Web site: https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/drop |
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